


Derelict

by Warp5Complex_Archivist



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-23
Updated: 2006-02-23
Packaged: 2018-08-15 15:53:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8062651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warp5Complex_Archivist/pseuds/Warp5Complex_Archivist
Summary: Can the Enterprise crew solve the mystery of a strange ship? (05/11/2004)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

"There's Ulysses." Mayweather said as Enterprise approached the Earth colony Coogan's World. The Earth Starship Ulysses could be seen in standard orbit around the small frontier world. She was obviously not as advanced as Captain Jonathan Archer's ship, but Enterprise was an experimental vessel, while Ulysses was one of a class that was the current state-of-the-art. She had a barbell shape, sporting two spherical pressure hulls connected by an access tunnel. The larger sphere forward was the Command/Habitat Hull, where the crew lived and operated the ship. The smaller sphere aft was the Engineering/Service Hull, from which the Warp nacelles extended. Unlike in Enterprise, there was no crew standing round-the-clock watch in an engine room. The engines were serviced as needed through the access tunnel.

"Standard orbit, Mr. Mayweather." Captain Archer said. "Hail Ulysses."

Ensigns Mayweather and Sato acknowledged with "Aye, Sir," then the helmsman pulled the ship into orbit while the Communications Officer contacted the other Starfleet ship.

"Ulysses answers hail." Sato said.

"On screen." Archer said. A moment later the image of the planet and the other ship was replaced by an image of Ulysses' bridge. There was a Lieutenant sitting in the command chair. His attention was on his own bridgescreen, and he straightened up a little in the seat when he saw who was calling. "This is Captain Archer of the Enterprise."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sir." The Lieutenant said as he stood. "I'm Lieutenant Bridling, First Officer of Ulysses."

"Glad to meet you, Lieutenant. I was expecting to talk to your Captain."

"That's understandable, Sir. Captain Will is down on Coogan's World now. Some more of the rock face has shifted, uncovering more of the artifact. He went to see it for himself, and left instructions to inform you and give you rendezvous coordinates when you arrived." Bridling looked off-screen long enough to say "Transmit those coordinates to Enterprise now." Someone out-of-sight acknowledged, and soon Sato received a data packet with the pertinent information. Bridling turned back to the screen. "Should I inform Captain Will that you've arrived and are on your way down, Sir?"

"Do that," Archer said. "We'll be there shortly. Enterprise out." He nodded to Sato, who cut the channel. The Captain stood for a moment or two, thinking about the situation. More of the "artifact" had been revealed. It was that strange artifact that had brought him to Coogan's World, something apparently so mind-shattering that Will had contacted him directly and asked him to come see it, not wanting to risk asking Starfleet to send a dedicated research vessel or contact the nearest Vulcan ship. Archer had had a shuttlepod prepared along the way, sure that whatever was going on it deserved his immediate attention.

"Hoshi," he said, "give those coordinates to T'Pol, then have Commander Tucker meet us in the Shuttlepod Bay. T'Pol, you're driving. Malcolm, you have the ship." Lt. Reed answered with a nod as Sato called Engineering, then Archer, T'Pol and Sato left the bridge.

* * *

T'Pol landed the shuttlepod deftly on the ground near the one from Ulysses. There were three people waiting when the landing party came out. One was the commanding officer of Ulysses, Commander Frank Will. With him was a Starfleet Ensign and a civilian in lab coveralls, most likely a scientist. Will led his people over to Archer's.

"Captain Will," Archer said, using the honorific given all ship commanders regardless of rank, "I'm Jonathan Archer."

"Captain Archer." Will said as they smiled and shook hands. "Good to meet you." The dark-skinned officer had a gruff voice and a rugged bearing. "This is my Chief Engineer, Ensign Elly Mercurio, and this is Ben Presley. He's a geologist."

Archer shook hands with the young officer and the civilian in turn then introduced his own people. "This is Commander Tucker, my Chief Engineer, Ensign Hoshi Sato, communications, and this is T'Pol."

Will's expression changed slightly as he caught sight of the Vulcan. "You brought your...Science Officer down?"

"You did say that I should bring my best technical people with me. T'Pol certainly qualifies."

"So I did." Will said, forcing a smile back on his face and shaking hands with the Enterprise landing party, starting with T'Pol. "I'm sorry to take you away from your mission, Captain Archer. I hope it won't take too long, but what we've found here...well, it may help put your job in some sort of perspective. We have transportation waiting. I can explain what's happening on the way to the site."

Archer looked where Will indicated. There were two wheeled vehicles sitting near the shuttlepods. "Lead the way." He said.

The group divided themselves between the two cars. Captains Archer and Will took one car with T'Pol and Tucker, while Sato took the other with Presley and Mercurio. They set out across the Coogan's World landscape, which reminded T'Pol of Earth's Australian outback. As he drove, Will laid out the situation for Archer.

"A few days ago we received a distress signal from the colony. This area has been rocked with a series of massive planetquakes and the main settlement has been hit pretty bad. We came to render humanitarian assistance. We were on our way to deliver Dr. Presley to that new mining settlement being established on Planetoid NSC4503 when we got the call."

"4503?" "Trip" said. "They expect to find some big dilithium deposits, don't they?"

"That'll be an important place when the NX ships start entering the fleet in numbers." Archer said.

"So I've heard." Will said. "Anyway, when he found out about our detour he offered to join the landing party and see what kind of insight he could give us about the frequency and the duration of the quakes. Turns out that the quakes were caused by the collapse of a fault line in the badlands out here. That fault line is turning into a wide canyon. It's that canyon where we found the artifact embedded."

"If it's an artifact," Archer said, "wouldn't it be more appropriate to get a xenoarcheologist out here?"

"I only call it an 'artifact' because I can't think of a better word." Will said. "It's more like...well, why don't you just see for yourself. We're here."

Archer looked ahead as the vehicle stopped. Mercurio pulled the other car right alongside, and everybody got out. They were about two hundred meters from the edge of the cliff. "We're safer parking back here." Presley said. The group walked the distance to the cliff edge and looked into the crevasse.

Archer, Sato, and Tucker's mouths fell open at the sight of what was embedded in the far cliff face. If T'Pol was equally surprised, she stayed true to her nature and didn't show it, but she did immediately whip out her scanner and take readings. Archer got down on his haunches, trying to get as close a look as possible with his eyes.

"Is that what I think it is?" He said.

"Near as we can tell." Will said. "It's a spaceship."

It was a remarkable spaceship at that. Enterprise and Ulysses were two of the biggest ships in Starfleet, yet this vessel dwarfed both of them, even with half its bulk buried in rock. It had to be at least ten times the size of Archer's ship, yet it still seemed very familiar to him. "You'll think I'm nuts, but do you know what this thing reminds me of?"

"Enterprise!" Tucker said. "It's like a modified Enterprise! A really big modified Enterprise!"

The resemblance was uncanny. The big, white spacecraft had a big saucer that was partially buried in rock, but even with all the dirt in the way the crew could see that it was connected to a cylindrical body by a massive strut. The Warp engines were also connected to this extra body, not to the saucer, but the hemispherical Bussard collector on the one nacelle that wasn't obscured was unmistakable. They could even see the round Main Deflector at the forward end of the cylindrical body.

"That's one of the reasons I contacted you, but it's not where the similarity ends, gentlemen." Will said as he pulled out a handheld computer. He pressed some buttons and some recorded images came up on the screen. He showed the screen to Archer. "When we realized what we had here we did some overhead flights of the vessel with the shuttlepod and took these pictures. Pay attention to the top of the saucer."

Archer watched the image. The view was of the ship from above. With the cylinder part obscured, this strange ship looked even more like his own. He watched as the camera zoomed in, bringing the markings at the top of the saucer into focus. He frowned when he read what he assumed was the vessel's name.

"Is this some kind of joke?!!" He demanded of Will.

"We can take one of the shuttlepods for a flyover so you can see it with your own eyes," Will said, "but I assure you, Captain, that this is no joke."

"What is it, Cap'n?" Tucker said.

"Look at this." Archer said as he handed Tucker the computer. Then it was the Chief Engineer's turn to be astounded. He handed the computer wordlessly to T'Pol. She looked carefully at the image. The starboard side of the saucer was buried in rock, so part of what was written along the forward edge was obscured, but enough was visible to make her eyebrow go up.

"Enterprise." She said. It prompted Sato to look over her shoulder.

"It's in English." She said, stunned. "Like they used the same stencil from our ship." She looked back at the vessel. "But that can't be an Earth ship!"

"You have to admit it is similar to your ship." Mercurio said. "Like those big High Warp engines. They must do Warp 5 and better. And none of our other ships have a saucer like that."

"If Earth could field such a vessel," T'Pol said, "it would only be logical to use it to conduct our current exploratory mission. It would, however, be highly illogical to bury it in a cliffside."

"Maybe it is a joke," Tucker said, "though it would have cost the prankster a whole boatload of time and money."

"Then how'd they get it in the fault line?" Ben Presley asked. "It's pretty big and unwieldy for a mock-up."

"That is no mock-up." T'Pol said. "My readings indicate that it is a functioning though dormant vessel."

"Still, how'd it get in the fault line, buried in solid rock, so that we'd find it?"

"That's what I want to know." Archer said. "T'Pol, any bio-signs?"

"None, Captain."

He turned to Will. "Is there a way inside? Maybe somewhere to dock the shuttlepod?"

Will shook his head. "We checked. There aren't any exterior entrances. No docking or access ports or airlocks. In fact, except for those protrusions on the nacelle and a few molds on the saucer and near the deflector, the exposed parts of the hull are practically featureless."

"I can see that." Tucker said. "There don't seem to be any handholds or anything for EVA missions. Maybe they do all the repairs from inside...but how do they get in and out of the thing?"

"It's not completely inaccessible," Mercurio said. "We've seen evidence that there's an access door aft that might lead to a shuttle bay...but most of the aft is blocked by rock, and even if the aft were completely exposed..."

"We wouldn't necessarily know how to open it." Archer said. "In that case it might as well be inaccessible. Unless we cut into the hull somewhere..."

"Actually," T'Pol said, "there is one other way we might enter the ship, and if it is successful it might also explain how the crew gains ingress and egress."

Archer turned to her with a confused look, which turned into a dejected one a second later when he realized what she meant. Will simply smiled. He'd come to the same conclusion long ago.

"That's the other reason I contacted you." He said.

* * *

Soon the Starfleet shuttlepods had returned to their respective ships. Later, Archer, Tucker, T'Pol, Sato, Will and Mercurio gathered in Enterprise's Transporter Room. After scanning the strange ship with Enterprise's main sensors, T'Pol found what looked like a larger transporter room inside. That would be the destination for the transport. She set the coordinates herself, leaving the transporter technician nothing to do but start the process.

As they stood on the transporter pad, Will turned to Archer and said quietly, "Just out of curiosity, how many times have you successfully transported living beings with this thing?"

This would have been a perfect time for Archer to seem confident and secure and let Will know that everything would be fine. He went with the truth instead. "Define 'successfully'."

"'Successfully' as in the living being was still 'living' at the end of the trip." Will said.

"In that case, three." Archer said.

T'Pol, who'd heard the conversation, decided to get it done before any of the Humans could back out. "We should go now, Captain." She said.

"Very well," Archer said with a deep breath. "Energize."

The technician worked the power throttles, and with a soft buzz and several cascades of white sparks, the boarding party vanished.

* * *

Though the transport process only took a few seconds, it was more than enough time for Archer to imagine all the hundred horrible ways that he might die attempting this stunt. He waited as the overpowering light of the transport beam surrounded him, hoping he wouldn't feel himself solidifying in solid rock, or in the hull of the strange ship, or anything else as ghastly.

When the effect ended, he realized he needn't have worried. He found himself standing in a large, softly lit room, occupied only by a few strange control panels in the walls and control station in the center. As he took in the whole scene, he realized they must have ended up in the ship's transporter room. He looked down at his feet. Instead of one large pad the boarding party was arrayed on six small ones, as if this transporter room had been specifically designed to transport people.

"Is this what you expected to find, T'Pol?" Archer said.

"Indeed, Captain." T'Pol said as she looked around the room, then started scanning. "It seemed reasonable that anyone who would include so few ways to enter the ship physically would be accustomed to some mode of access that did not require physicality. Molecular Transportation seemed the logical answer. In fact, the process was more efficient than I expected." With that she stepped off the transporter platform and walked over to the control station.

"What's that mean?" Tucker asked.

For a moment it seemed as if T'Pol didn't hear him, so intent was she on examining the controls, but she answered a moment later. "It appears that when the ship detected an incoming transport beam the transporter controls synchronized themselves to receive it, improving the accuracy of delivery and final reassembly of the incoming material."

"Like in a cargo transport," Archer said, as he and the others descended from the platform, "from a station to our ship, only automatic."

"Which was why we each landed on one of those separate pads." Will said.

"Precisely." The Vulcan said. From the tone in her voice, one might almost think she was pleased with the results of her experiment. Of course, her face betrayed nothing.

"This place is so...bare." Mercurio said.

"You noticed that, too?" Sato said. "No conduits or moldings, no track lighting or bare metal...just white walls."

"And carpet." Archer said, looking down. He hadn't seen carpet in months.

"There's some color." Tucker said. "Like this wall panel here...and these transporter controls." He went to join T'Pol. The surface of the control station was a deep red, and the control buttons were several different colors. "There's no markings for the controls, no numbers or labels that might explain which does what."

"They might not be necessary." Mercurio said, looking at the wall panel. "Maybe the colors follow some kind of code."

"That is possible, Ensign," T'Pol said, "but some of the controls are similar to those used by Enterprise's transporter. These three switches, for example, must be the energizer throttles."

Mercurio looked. T'Pol was indicating three flat, upright controls mounted in slides.

"Well," Archer said, "while this tour of the transporter room has been fun it's not getting us any closer to any answers. T'Pol, where inside the ship are we now?"

T'Pol checked her scanner. "The saucer, Captain, here." She said, showing him on her screen.

"How much of the ship do we have access to?" Will asked.

"All of the interior, Captain. There is no rock penetrating the hull."

"Is there a way to get around it quickly?" Archer said, adding quickly: "Other than the transporter?"

T'Pol checked again. "It appears a transit system has been installed within the ship. A network of large access tunnels throughout the interior, used to guide several lift cars."

"Handy." Archer said. "I'd like to see the Bridge. Will, you come with me. 'Trip', you and Ensign Mercurio check out Engineering. T'Pol, see if you can find a library or database somewhere and try to dig up some information. Take Hoshi with you. Will this 'transit system' get to all those places?"

"Certainly, Captain. There is a lift station near this room."

"Then let's not wait any longer." Archer said as he led the party out of the transporter room. The door opened for him automatically, with a familiar shhh, except:

"Is it just me," Sato said, "or was that door louder than usual?"

"There's atmosphere." Tucker said. "The sound is the change of pressure between the two spaces the door opens on. In this case the spaces are bigger."

"A lot bigger." Mercurio said. "This corridor is immense."

"And bare, again." Tucker said. "It's like a clean room in a lab, only without equipment."

"Where's the transit system, T'Pol?" Archer said.

"This way." T'Pol pointed, then led off. The party walked down the long corridor for a few seconds, then stopped at another door. This, too, opened automatically. The party looked inside at what seemed to be a normal elevator car with strange controls.

"It'll be cramped." Sato said. "Do we all pile in?"

"There will be another car to replace it when it moves." T'Pol said. "It might be best if each team took a separate car."

"We'll go first." Archer said, and he and Will stepped in.

"I'm detecting audio pickups in the circuitry." T'Pol said. "I believe it is partially voice controlled. Activate it with the control, then tell it where you want to go."

Archer looked at the control. There was a handle that looked like the fang of some giant animal. He wrapped his hand around it, seeing no other obvious switch, and said "Bridge."

When nothing happened, Will repeated the action with another controller. That made the door close and caused the car to move, accompanied by a quiet but annoying howling tone, that rose in pitch as they sped through the ship. After about a half-minute of travel, the door opened again.

The first thing that drew Archer's attention was the viewscreen directly across the circular space. He was surprised that it was only a little bigger than the one on his own bridge. There was a strip display under it, where two amber lights started across from either end and met in the center, over and over. As he and Will stepped into the room, they were shocked by the layout of the place. It was textbook Starfleet design philosophy: Captain's Chair in the center, helm just ahead, other bridge stations set up around the perimeter. Again, they noticed the sparseness of the decor, as well as the odd touches of color, on the panels and on the control buttons. Archer also noticed the other displays above the control stations. They were active, but didn't seem to be displaying any discernible information. Most of the images were just artistic wave patterns.

"Hey," he said, "that's probably the Science Station."

Will looked where he was pointing. "How can you tell?"

"See that scope extending up?" Archer said. "T'Pol has something like that at her station on Enterprise."

Will chuckled as they went over to the console. "Think maybe whoever built this ship had Vulcan Science Officers in mind?"

Archer smiled as he responded. "Maybe we started a trend." He looked into the scope. "It's turned off, just like the viewscreen. No way to look out of the ship."

"Judging from the way it's buried, there's probably nothing to see but rock anyway." Will's attention was then drawn to the Captain's Chair. Archer followed his gaze and smiled.

"Wanna try it?" He said.

"You first, by all means." Will said, sweeping his hand toward it in an inviting gesture.

Archer looked again, then said "Don't mind if I do." He walked into the low center of the deck and examined the chair for a moment. It was big, white and boxy, with shiny black cushions and a smattering of colorful controls on the armrests. Taking a deep breath, he climbed into the chair and sat down.

"It's comfortable, anyway," he said, "but feels a little bit more like a pedestal than a chair."

"On a ship this big, maybe you need the Captain to be a larger-than-life figure." Will said as he went to the forward stations. "There's two sets of controls here. One's got to be the helm. Maybe the other's navigation?"

"Split the functions? It's possible. Anything's possible."

Will nodded in agreement, then arbitrarily chose the seat on the left and sat down. He looked at the controls. Still lots of colors but no markings. On a whim, he pressed one. He was slightly startled by the sound of mechanical gears, and he watched in amazement as another scope emerged from the left side of the control panel. When it was in position, he looked into it.

"Targeting scope." He said, looking back at Archer.

"So it's armed." Archer said. He sat back in the chair and looked around the bridge. "What is it about this thing? Where did it come from? And why 'Enterprise'? Is it one of a kind, like my ship?"

"Don't think so." Will said. "Did you catch the number on the saucer when you saw the name? If we can take it literally, then somewhere out there there are seventeen hundred more just like it."

"Maybe...but I'm more interested in how Seventeen Hundred and One got here."

* * *

Sato felt kind of silly just standing in the open lift. T'Pol seemed deep in thought, but showed no other sign of what was going on in her head. Finally the Ensign couldn't stand it anymore.

"Okay, I'll ask." She said. "Where do we go?"

They had kind of a dilemma: the first two teams had got off without a hitch, mainly because they knew exactly where they needed to be, and thus could tell the lift. The captains went to the Bridge, the engineers went to Engineering. These names would correspond to sections on any ship, but the name of where they wanted to be could be any of a number of different things.

"It could be called anything," she continued, "like 'Historical Archive', or just 'Archive', or 'Computer Center', 'Data Center', 'Processing Center'...what do you think?"

"I think," T'Pol said, finally, "that I will defer to your opinion."

"My opinion? Why?"

"From what I've seen, this vessel could only have been built by humans or by a race familiar with human design philosophy. The most obvious clue to this is the fact that the name of the vessel is written in the Human language English. It is logical to assume, therefore, that a human with an academic knowledge of the English language would be best suited to finding his way in a strange ship under these circumstances. That makes your guess much more useful than mine. We need to find out information about this ship and it's origins. If we assume that information can be found in a single space, what would you call it?"

Then Sato became lost in thought. "It would have to be something simple," she thought aloud, "colloquial, that the transit system could take you to immediately. Something that everybody on the ship would recognize for what it was as soon as they heard the name, and if it holds information on everything..."

She shrugged, then grabbed the control. T'Pol followed suit, and Sato said out loud: "Archive."

The lift closed and started to move. Sato grinned and looked at T'Pol, who responded with a slight nod.

* * *

Tucker and Mercurio had found it necessary to search for the Engine Room. the lift had only let them out on the same deck. After trying a few doors they found the entrance to Engineering in the center of an out-of-the-way corridor. They stepped inside, and Tucker's mouth dropped.

"That's it," He said as he looked around, "now I'm officially stunned."

He'd never seen such a clean, empty engine room before. They were standing on an upper level catwalk, surveying the space with their eyes. There were a few scattered wall panels with a smattering of multicolored controls, along with some more elaborate control stations along the wall below them. That was it, aside from a glassed-off room to their left. There was one thing missing, that was driving both of them nuts. Mercurio asked the question first.

"Where the hell is the Warp Reactor?"

"Let's find it." Tucker said, then descended the ladder that led to the lower level. Mercurio followed as he started to examine the control stations. Again, lots of switches with no clear markings met his gaze. He started to examine one of the screens as Mercurio went off on her own.

"This must be it!" She called out, drawing his attention. He turned and saw her leaning against the glass wall, looking inside. He went over to join her, and she started pointing things out. "I think those are electroplasma conduits over there, those are probably deuterium tanks, and that might be the reaction chamber in the center."

"All below that grated deck," Tucker said, then stepped back. He tapped the glass wall and then examined it. "And apparently out of reach. There's no way in without breaking the glass. I don't get it. Why go to all the trouble to build an Engine Room for an engine you can't reach? And why waste so much space on so few controls?"

"Maybe it's like the way Ulysses is designed." Mercurio said. "Maybe this space is just for routine maintenance and extraordinary situations."

"Then why make it so big? The controls I see here look like they could all be arranged on two big wall panels and laid out along a corridor. This room isn't really necessary at all. The engine is almost completely self-contained. It's like they added this place as an afterthought."

Mercurio was going to say something when Tucker's communicator sounded. "Archer to Tucker and T'Pol."

Tucker took the device out and flipped it open. "Tucker here."

"Any insights to share, 'Trip'?"

"We're still in the dark down here, Cap'n. We found Engineering, but all we've got is no answers and even more questions."

* * *

"So far, we have been unable to uncover any useful information, but we have discovered what might be a library." T'Pol said into her communicator. She was holding what she assumed were some kind of information storage devices. They'd been stored in a file and were roughly the same size and shape as the computer disks that Starfleet used, but they were featureless squares, as barren as the exterior of the ship. For some reason, they reminded her vaguely of blocks of wood. Sato had already tried to access one by putting it in a slot in the display table--a table with a three-screen display on top--but couldn't get the controls to work.

* * *

"Looks like we're all drawing a blank." Archer said. "Keep looking. Maybe we'll stumble onto something useful. Archer out." He closed his communicator and stared at the blank screen in front of him. "This is getting us nowhere." He said to Will.

"This may be too big for us." Will said. "We may have to call Starfleet or the Vulcans after all. I wonder if we could pull it out of here? Tow it back to a dock and let the Corps of Engineers pull it apart?"

"We'd need more than just our ships. Speaking of which, I better let everyone know how we're doing."

"That's about the size of it." Archer said. "We'll keep looking around here some more but I don't think we'll find anything useful until we can start taking it apart. We'll discuss that when we get back."

* * *

Reed was listening from his station on Enterprise's bridge. Though he was in command right now, he didn't feel it necessary to sit in the center chair. He was territorial enough about his Tactical station. "Very well, Captain." He said. "How long will you be?"

"We haven't been here long. Maybe another twenty minutes or so, just so we can cover a fair amount of ground. We'll keep you posted. Archer out."

The channel clicked off and Reed thought for a moment. "If they want to pull it off the surface we'll need at least two more Perseus-class starships plus a gaggle of maintenance tugs."

"Maybe the Vulcans have a tractor beam big enough to haul it up." Mayweather volunteered. "We still have to get it out of the rock."

"True. It's possible that we can adjust the new phase cannons to..." A warning light on his console interrupted his thought. "Proximity alert! There's another ship nearby, but..."

As he watched the forward screen, a small, sleek spacecraft appeared out of nowhere in orbit. It dashed toward the planet, lingered in the upper atmosphere for a few moments, then swung back out, turning onto a course to intercept Enterprise.

The ship rocked as twin energy beams lanced out and struck the outer hull. Reed polarized the hull as soon as he recovered, just seconds before the attacker made a second pass and swung out to a higher orbit.

"Pursue, Mr. Mayweather!" He ordered. "Armory, deploy phase cannons and load torpedoes!"

Then Ulysses hailed. "Ulysses to Enterprise! Do you require assistance?"

"Always glad to have a hand, Mr. Bridling! Try to get ahead of him and cut him off!"

"Acknowledged. Ulysses out!" With that, the other starship broke orbit and joined the pursuit.

"Open a channel to Captain Archer!" Reed said.

* * *

Archer and Will went straight to the lift as he gave Reed orders. "Be ready to come back and transport us up! In the meantime keep that ship close! If it has anything to do with this mystery ship I want to know about it! Archer out!" They entered the lift and started it moving to the transporter room. Archer contacted the others from inside. "Archer to T'Pol and Tucker!" When they acknowledged he went on: "Get back to the transporter room, now! Enterprise and Ulysses are under attack! I'll have Reed come back for us when we're all together in one spot!"

Soon the lift stopped and the doors opened. The two captains stepped out and saw two black-clad figures standing halfway down the corridor, energy weapons held ready.

The Starfleet officers were sitting ducks when the figures fired.

* * *

Archer and Will dove back inside the lift car as the energy blasts hit the nearby walls. They stood upright when they were on either side of the open door. Energy blasts were still pouring in as they heard footsteps running toward them and drew their weapons.

"These phase pistols work as well as that transporter?" Will said.

"No better time to find out!" Archer said as they turned out the door and opened fire. This time it was the attackers' turn to dive. One wasn't quite fast enough. Will's beam hit him squarely in the head and he went down hard. The other rolled around on the deck, trying to keep from being hit as he lined up his next shot.

Archer had no intention of waiting for him. He ducked back into the lift. "Controller!" He said as he grabbed one of the switches. Will ducked in and grabbed the other, leaving the attacker free to fire into the car again.

"Armory!" Archer called out, praying that this ship had one. He got the answer he wanted. The lift car closed and moved again. The Captain whipped out his communicator.

"Archer to T'Pol and Tucker! Just listen..."

* * *

"...ambushed at the transporter room!" T'Pol heard as the lift car slowed down. "Don't go near there! Take the lift to this ship's Armory!"

Sato was still processing the information when T'Pol drew her weapon and the door opened. Energy blasts flew in immediately. She stretched her arm out the door and returned fire blindly, causing the attackers to back off. She never let go of the controller.

"Armory." She said as she ducked back in. The lift closed again and moved.

* * *

Tucker and Mercurio changed their destination while the lift was still in motion. The Chief Engineer checked the setting on his phase pistol while they waited for the lift to get where it was going.

"What if the bad guys get the same idea?" Mercurio said.

"Then we just have to beat 'em to it." Tucker said.

* * *

"Firing!" Reed said. Enterprise's phase cannons cut loose, lancing the fast enemy ship with energy beams. Thanks to modifications made by Reed and Tucker over the past few weeks, the weapons were almost as powerful as they had been when they were first used against the ship's strange, silent enemy. Unfortunately, they still weren't doing enough damage to their current target.

"Blast!" Reed said. "It's diminishing their shields but we're still not getting through! Keep them in our sights!"

"Coming about!" Mayweather said as he swung the ship to follow the maneuvers of the attacker. Meanwhile, Ulysses was finally in attack position. The older Starfleet ship let loose a barrage of pulse blasts, but the hits had no effect.

"Hail Ulysses!" Reed said to the crewman at the comm station. "I have an idea."

* * *

Archer and Will exited the lift and swept their phase pistols ahead of them as they searched the corridor, looking for the mystery ship's weapons cache. They found it around a bend and went in.

There were hundreds of weapons in storage racks along the walls, strange but recognizable for what they were, rifles, pistols, mortars and the like. "Go out in the hall and wait for the others." Archer said. "Take out anyone else who comes near the place."

Will rushed back out of the room while Archer started pulling promising items off the racks. It wasn't long before T'Pol and Sato came rushing in. About a minute later Will returned with Tucker and Mercurio in tow. They shut the door to the Armory, but couldn't figure out how to lock it.

"They'll be here any minute." Tucker said. "I can't believe they won't be able to figure out where we've gone."

"They may not care." Archer said. "They ambushed us at the transporter room, but didn't try to keep all of us in the separate areas of the ship."

"They want to keep us here," T'Pol said. "The transporter is the most effective way off the ship."

"And with Enterprise under attack, we don't have its transporter to get us out of here either." Archer said as he started passing out the items he'd been gathering.

"What is this?" Will said, as he took the boxy-looking weapon Archer handed him.

"I think they're phase rifles of some kind." Archer said. "There seem to be setting controls for the beam emissions."

Tucker looked his new weapon over dubiously, his mouth twisting up as he looked at the emitter. "They gotta be kidding! This looks like that big deflector on the front of the ship! It's like a ray gun from an old movie!"

"That's the first thing I thought." Archer said. "Let's hope it functions more seriously than it looks. We'll have to combat assault the transporter room. We don't know how many people we'll be facing but I'm sure it will be a lot more than we've seen, so we'll need more firepower than what we're carrying. If these things work, we may be able to use them to tip the balance in our favor."

"If they work." Will said. "Not much on the ship does."

"Let's test them." Mercurio said.

"How would we do that?" T'Pol said.

Mercurio looked around. Her gaze stopped on a desk in the space. It was probably where a crewman sat to sign out weapons. She turned the setting on her phase rifle up to full, aimed at the desk and pressed the contact.

The beam that came out was more solid than the ones from the phase pistols, and the emission sounded more like a high-pitched purring than an electronic whine, but the weapon was effective. The desk turned several bright colors and disappeared in a series of hazy after-images, leaving behind a desk-shaped smoking burn on the floor.

Mercurio looked back at the others. "I think they work." She said, sheepishly.

"Just watch where you point that thing." Tucker said, with a half-smile.

"Good work, Ensign," Archer said, "but let's keep these things on a lower setting. I want information from whoever's attacking us, and they can't tell us anything from oblivion. T'Pol, can we get back to the transporter room without using the transit system?"

T'Pol checked her scanner. "There are several emergency stairwells throughout the ship, however, we are deep in the cylindrical hull, and would have to traverse several decks to get to the transporter room in the saucer."

"I'm up for some exercise." Will said.

"That's good to hear," Archer said, "but time is the real problem. We don't know what's happening to our ships right now, and I don't want to be gallivanting through this monster on foot while it happens."

"We could just call up and ask." Sato said.

"I believe Lieutenant Reed is too busy at the moment to answer." T'Pol said.

"She's right." Will said. "Enterprise and Ulysses are probably both engaged right now."

"But you'd have to call Enterprise anyway to get us transported back up." Mercurio said.

"I've been thinking about that," Archer said, "and I've got a better idea. Reed will probably come back on his own to get us, and with an armed boarding party roaming around our main priority is to get off this ship, not on to our own. If T'Pol can get the transporter here to work, she can transport us to the planet's surface somewhere far away, hopefully somewhere far enough that the bad guys don't come looking for us. Then we can--"

He was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Two of the gunmen burst in and started firing, causing everyone to duck for cover. Sato was hit before she could get far and went down. Mercurio and T'Pol managed to bring their phase rifles to bear and returned fire, downing one attacker and driving the other off.

"'Trip', Will, after him!" Archer said, and the two officers raced out into the corridor.

T'Pol went over to Sato and checked her pulse and breathing. "She is alive," She said, "but stunned."

"So they don't want to kill us--yet." Archer said. He went to check the body of the attacker. This person was dead. Apparently they hadn't quite figured out the settings on the new weapons correctly. He was reaching for the gunman's mask as Tucker and Will returned.

"He got to the lift before we could stop him." Tucker said.

"We won't be learning anything from this one." Archer said. "We'll move soon. Sato is out cold, so we'll have to figure out how to..."

He stopped when he saw T'Pol walk out with Sato slung over her shoulder, followed by Mercurio carrying three rifles. He'd forgotten that Vulcans were supposed to be stronger than humans. T'Pol didn't seem to be showing any strain at all.

Archer turned his attention back to the attacker. He reached down and pulled off the black facemask. What he saw made him grimace.

The face was Human.

"We'll use the lift." He said. "Hit the transporter room and then wait for Malcolm on the surface. 'Trip', watch our back, Mercurio, take point. Let's go."

The group got set up with T'Pol and Sato in the center and moved to the lift.

* * *

"Stay with him!" Reed commanded, as he tried frantically to keep a phase cannon lock on the enemy vessel. The attacker was now salvoing energy beams at both Starfleet ships, requiring punishing evasive maneuvers to be made by the helmsmen.

"It's getting tougher!" Mayweather said as his hands worked the control yoke and impulse throttles.

"Just a little longer." Malcolm said. "Ulysses is almost ready...firing!!"

Two long beams shot out from Enterprise's phase cannons, boring into one particular point on the alien ship's starboard engine nacelle. A split-second after they impacted, Ulysses launched two torpedoes, which impacted on the same point as the phase blasts weakened the enemy shields. There was a satisfying explosion as the rush of firepower broke through the shielding in that area. Enterprise salvoed two torpedos of its own, and the impact damaged the nacelle and sent the craft spinning and venting plasma. Enterprise and Ulysses poured it on, hammering the ship with pulse and phase blasts until it tumbled uncontrolled into a low, unstable orbit around Coogan's World.

"It's spiraling in!" Mayweather said.

"Tracking!" Reed said. He'd done a better job than he planned. If it crashed, they might never get the answers Archer wanted. He tied his sensor controls into T'Pol's. "There are some biosigns, but they're jumbled, as if they don't want anyone to know who's aboard."

"They're moving too fast to use the transporter." Mayweather said. "The ship will burn up in the atmosphere before we can do anything."

"Bloody Hell." Reed growled under his breath.

* * *

"How are you doing, T'Pol?" Archer said as he ran up the next flight of steps.

"I am fine, Captain." T'Pol said. Even with her burden she didn't sound all that tired.

They'd ended up taking the stairs after all. The attackers had apparently had better luck with the mystery ship's systems than Archer's party had. They had shut down all the lift cars in the transit system, leaving archer and his people no choice but to try to get to the transporter room on foot.

Archer stopped at the top of the landing. "Where are we now?" He asked.

T'Pol used her free hand to check her computer. "We're at the bottom of the stem that connects the Saucer to the Cylinder. This is mainly a service and utility space. There is one more flight of stairs, and then we must climb a series of ladders through an emergency access tunnel."

"All the way up?!" Tucker said, incredulous.

"Can you make it with Sato on your back?" Archer said.

"It is...doubtful." T'Pol said.

"Well, Captain?" Will said.

Archer thought about it for a moment. "We could make it without Sato, but we can't leave her, and who knows what the bad guys will have waiting for us along the way. We'll just have to take our chances and call Malcolm. Let's get to a more open area of the ship first."

"There aren't any spaces more open than the Engine Room and the Shuttle Bay." Mercurio offered. T'Pol checked her computer.

"The Engine Room is closer." The Vulcan said.

"Engine Room it is." Archer said. "Let's go."

The party backtracked its course, descending two decks before heading aft down a long corridor. They were about to make the first turn when they felt a slight rumble shake through the deck. It stopped them in their tracks as it built to a crescendo, vibrating the hull around them.

"I think the Engine Room is probably not a good place to go." Mercurio said.

"Why is that?" Will said.

"Because they might have just started the Impulse Engines." Tucker said.

Then the rumble was accompanied by a creaking sound, a loud wrenching noise that echoed through the hull, as if the ship were being torn apart. There was a quick, weird noise, which Tucker could only describe as air shooting through an underwater tunnel, and suddenly the ship shook with what sounded like thunder, but felt more like the world was breaking apart chunk by chunk.

Then it hit Archer. It wasn't the whole world breaking up.

"Uh-oh..." he said, just before a series of tilts threw his people into the bulkheads. They were all on the floor when the rocking subsided. T'Pol had lost Sato, but had made sure the communications officer hadn't hit her head or suffered any serious damage.

"If they can make this ship move, then we can take it over!" Archer said. "The Engine Room is exactly where we need to go!" He picked himself up as he said it, but another violent motion threw them all aft as the rumbling grew louder and more strident. Then the rumble quieted down to a background tone and the tremors ceased.

"What happened?" Mercurio said as she sat up. "Did we stop moving?"

She was a little slow to figure it out. "Don't count on it." Tucker said.

"The Inertial Dampening and Artificial Gravity Systems are now on line." T'Pol said.

* * *

Mayweather followed the alien ship until it went into the atmosphere. The ship's course was marked by a long, white-orange streak that ended abruptly over one of the world's small seas.

"Keep going around." Reed said. "Bring us back into orbit over the mystery ship."

"Aye, Sir." Mayweather said as he pulled into a higher orbit and accelerated.

"Sir, Ulysses is hailing us." The crewman running the comm said.

"Put them through." Reed said. Bridling appeared on the screen with a look of shock on his face as he stared at another monitor.

"Lieutenant," He said, "we've got a problem. The mystery ship is moving!"

Reed went pale. "Get us there, Mr. Mayweather, Full Impulse! Bridling, don't let that ship out of your sight! Corda, hail Captain Archer!"

Corda tried to contact the Captain. "No response, Sir. I don't think he's receiving."

"It's coming up fast!" Bridling said. "It'll be around the Southern Pole by the time you get back over it's start point."

"Send us the coordinates, Bridling! Mayweather, set course to intercept."

Everyone acknowledged, then Bridling's face went off the screen. Reed stared intently at the planet's terminator as Mayweather maneuvered. Soon the pilot settled on a course and leveled out. The horizon settled at the bottom just as a small white speck came rose from it.

The speck began to take shape as Mayweather got closer. Reed watched with rapt attention as the speck turned into a spot, then an upside down triangle, then started take shape as a vessel. Reed began to make out details. The saucer stood out first, then the gold, shiny deflector dish on the cylinder. The red Bussard Collector endcaps on the warp nacelles shone bright with energy, and the bright white hull made the two Starfleet ships look dark and sickly by comparison. What really struck Reed was how big the ship was getting as they closed. By the time the two ships came to a relative stop ten thousand meters apart, the saucer of the mystery ship had filled the viewscreen.

And somewhere inside that white hulk, Captain Jonathan Archer and the rest of the landing party were stuck, out of communication, possibly in danger, and most likely unaware of the momentous occasion unfolding around them.

Enterprise was facing off against...Enterprise...

* * *

There were several, tense moments of silence as the two ships hung in space above Coogan's World. Enterprise, NX-01, was practically saucer to saucer with Enterprise, NCC-1701. Of course, -1701's saucer was much bigger, and that was just one reason why Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, currently in command of NX-01, spent those several tense moments stuck for something to say.

Eventually, he got over it. "Corda, hail them." He said.

Corda worked the comm controls. "No response." She said.

"Are we getting through?" Reed said.

"They're receiving us." Corda said. "Just not responding."

Reed thought a moment, then said: "Keep the channel open. This is Lieutenant Malcolm Reed of the Earth Starship Enterprise. I'd like a word with your commanding officer."

The big white starship just hung there, silent.

"All right then," Reed said, "I'll talk. My commanding officer and several others in my crew are aboard your ship. I'd like to get them back. Is there some way we can go about doing that peacefully?"

Again he was met with silence. Well, no one could say he didn't try. Reed made sure the phase cannons were fully charged and that there were torpedoes in the forward and aft tubes. After that, he tried to get a bio-fix on Captain Archer and the others. Enterprise's sensors were still being jammed. On one of his screens he could see Ulysses maneuvering into attack position behind the strange ship, boxing it in.

"Right, last time." He said. "I would like to..."

He was interrupted by the movement of the strange ship. -1701 rocked and swung right, exposing part of the lower saucer. As it turned two massive gold beams lashed out at Enterprise, blasting away at the polarized hull. NX-01 shuddered as if in an Earthquake as control panels flared and exploded. The bridge went dark for a few seconds before auxiliary power came on line. Ulysses fired on the ship as it turned, but her plasma pulse blasts detonated harmlessly against some sort of energy shield.

"What did they hit us with?" Mayweather said when everyone had recovered.

"Those," Reed said, "were real phase cannons."

* * *

The first sensation that hit Sato was pain. There was an ache in her head that rivaled every hangover she'd ever imagined. She caught the sensation of movement as she tried to open her eyes and clear away the haze. She felt as if she were bouncing along to somewhere, but knew she wasn't walking. What really threw her was the sensation of gravity. It was pulling down on both her arms and her feet at once. Finally she gathered enough strength to move her head, so she tilted it up...

...and saw somebody's butt. It was a nice butt, as far as butts went. Whoever owned it probably worked out a lot. Of course, it was odd to see someone's butt above her head, especially since it seemed to be attached to legs that were running on the ceiling--

Wait a minute...

"Hello!" Sato called out. "What's going on?"

Suddenly she stopped moving, and she felt arms drop her down till she was standing on her own two feet. The movement caused another wave of pain to wash across her skull, but when she recovered she realized that T'Pol was still holding her. She finally managed to steady herself on her feet, and when the Vulcan was satisfied the Linguist wouldn't fall she withdrew.

Everyone was looking at her. "Glad to have you back with us." Captain Jonathan Archer said.

"Did I miss anything?" Sato said.

"Do you remember being stunned?" Captain Frank Will said.

"Barely." Sato said. "T'Pol's been carrying me?"

"Like a gunnysack." "Trip" Tucker said.

"Thanks." She said to T'Pol.

"It was necessary." T'Pol said.

"Okay," She said, not sure how to take the typically Vulcan response. She decided to move on. "So, what's been happening while I was out?"

"Oh, not much." Archer said. "The bad guys control the ship now."

"And they're trying to keep us on it." Will said.

"And they managed to get it out of the rock and moving." Tucker said.

"Which means it is likely that we are in orbit at present." T'Pol said.

"And have no idea where we'll end up if this thing decides to leave orbit before we can get off." Mercurio said.

Sato just stood there for a second, then crossed her arms and frowned. "In other words, 'Same ol' same ol'." She said.

"'Join Starfleet and See the Universe'." Mercurio said, as she handed Sato and T'Pol their weapons.

"We're going to storm the Engine Room." Archer said. "Feel up to it?"

Sato checked her weapon before answering. "I'll be fine."

Archer nodded. "Okay, then let's go before..."

"Captain, wait!" Mercurio said. Something had just occurred to her. "We may have a better option. The ship's no longer in the rock, right?"

"That's right." Archer said.

"So the parts of the ship that were obscured by rock no longer are, right?"

"That is correct, Ensign." T'Pol said.

"What are you getting at, Elly?" Will said.

Tucker figured it out. "The Shuttle Bay! The outer door is clear now! If we can get in and commandeer one of their Shuttlepods or whatever they use, we can use it to get close to Enterprise. Then they won't have any trouble at all reeling us aboard or transporting us off."

"They'll probably have that guarded as well," Archer said, "and we still can't track them clearly with the instruments we have."

"That's true, Sir, but they don't need the Shuttle Bay to control the ship. Most of their people will probably be in Engineering or on the Bridge. That gives us better odds if we try to get hold of a shuttle."

"We still don't know how to open the bay doors." Sato said.

"Between T'Pol, Elly and me I'm sure we can figure it out." Tucker said. "At worst, maybe their transports have weapons we can use to blast our way out."

Archer took only a moment to think about it. "Lead the way, Ensign." He said.

Mercurio brought her weapon to bear and led off down the passageway, prompted by directions from T'Pol. The group hadn't been moving for a minute before Tucker stopped short. "Wait a second." He said.

"Now what?" Archer said.

"Listen!" Tucker said. Just then a sound echoed around them, like air pumped through a submerged tunnel.

"I heard that sound just before the ship broke loose." Tucker said. "I sure would like to know what it is. It does not sound like a good thing."

"We'll find out later." Archer said. "Now, we have a shuttle to catch."

The party moved on. Tucker tried to ignore the sound as it echoed through the ship again.

* * *

1701's phase blasts caught Ulysses in it's Engineering section. The ship was thrown into a spin as secondary detonations tore through the guts of the Warp drive. One warp nacelle was shorted out, while the other overloaded and detonated.

The Starfleet ships had been pursuing the strange starship as it orbited the planet. Reed had wanted to harass the vessel, but it's array of weapons had forced Enterprise and Ulysses to stay on the defensive. Enterprise's polarized hull had let it outlast the phase blasts, barely, but Ulysses's alloy hull was no match for a direct hit.

Reed broke off pursuit to render assistance, leaving the alien Enterprise to continue on it's course. "Hail Ulysses!" He said.

"No response." Corda said.

The starship was on the forward screen. Ulysses was still turning and sparking, venting energy and gases into space. After a moment, debris flew from the junction between the spherical Habitat hull and the Engineering section and the sphere flew off on it's own, propelled by Impulse engines at full power. The Engineering section blew up after that as the ship's warp core breached. The shockwaves rattled Enterprise as she drew closer.

After the space around the two ships had settled, Corda said. "Ulysses is hailing us."

"On screen." Reed said. The image showed Lt. Bridling on a bridge filled with smoke and sparking control panels.

"Enterprise, we're in bad shape." Bridling said. "We had to jettison our main engines. There are systems out all over the command hull, including our pulse cannons and one of our torpedo tubes. Our impulse engines are functioning for now, but there are warnings of surges all over."

Bridling hesitated, but Reed already knew. Ulysses was out of the fight. The two ships were already outgunned. Without a Warp capability and all of its weapons the older Starfleet ship would be destroyed going up against the alien craft.

Reed still had a use for her, though. He checked the position of the enemy ship. 1701 was just rounding the horizon of the planet and would be out of sight in seconds. "Take position above the North Polar Region," Reed said, "and keep a comm channel open. You can be our line-of-sight relay. Watch that ship like a hawk, but stay out of its line of fire. Understand?"

"Aye aye, Sir." Bridling said, then his image disappeared. Reed watched as Ulysses altered course and made for the North Pole of the colony. With that handled, the Lieutenant turned his attention back to the alien.

"Mr. Mayweather, intercept that ship! Put us in his face! I'm through being polite."

Reed couldn't see the helmsman's lopsided grin as he complied. "Yes, Sir!"

* * *

"This is it." T'Pol said as Archer's Party approached a wide door. Archer and Will took up positions on either side of the door, while Tucker and the women formed a firing line across from it. Everyone had the strange phase rifles at the ready.

Archer tried to enter but the door wouldn't open automatically. He tried to open it with the control panel near him but nothing happened.

"Looks like they know how to use the locks." Will said.

"We've got some great skeleton keys right here." Tucker said, and aimed his rifle. The women followed suit, and the four of them fired simultaneously as Archer and Will cleared the area. The electric whirring of the phase beams rose in pitch as they poured more and more energy into the door, which began glowing red-hot, then white-hot. Then the door burst inward and disappeared into a cloud of sparks with a loud bang and a pall of smoke.

Archer and Will rushed in before the cloud faded, scything their weapons back and forth looking for targets. Archer saw a shadowy figure trying to get his bearings and fired. The beam hit and his target went down. He turned around in time to duck an energy blast. Will was trading shots with another target. The other Starfleet Captain won the duel. The others rushed in as Will and Archer fanned out looking for more targets.

The smoke had cleared enough for them to see, just in time to catch the third attacker as he came out of another door in the Shuttle Bay. The man in black raked the bay with energy blasts, forcing the boarding party to dive for the deck. Archer and Tucker returned fire, but the target ducked back into the door and closed it before they could score a hit.

"Damn!" Tucker said as he jumped up. "T'Pol, Elly, come on!"

The three of them ran to the door the bad guy had just gone through. "This probably leads to that observation deck up there." Tucker said, indicating a booth with glass windows above them. "Maybe there are controls for the outer door, too." With that, they set up another firing line and started to blast the door.

Meanwhile, Archer, Will and Sato ran over to the large, boxy spacecraft that dominated the center of the room. the two captains immediately began trying to get it open, but the markings on the side of the ship caught Sato's eye.

"Captains! Look at this!" She said. Archer and Will rushed over to where she was standing. They immediately understood what got her excited.

"They named this, too." Archer said.

"Galileo." Will said.

"Why would an alien ship have a shuttle named after a human astronomer?" Sato said.

Before anyone could offer an opinion, a shrill monotone voice announced from the loudspeaker: "Warning! Shuttle Bay depressurizing! Shuttle Bay will be depressurized in one minute!"

Archer looked up into the windows of the observation deck and saw the attacker fiddling with some controls, then looked where they had come in and saw that an emergency bulkhead had covered the doorway.

"That's just one more mystery we don't have time to solve!" He said. "Let's move! Try and get into the shuttle! 'Trip'! T'Pol, Elly! Get over here!"

The rest of the party rushed over as Archer and the others tried frantically to get the shuttle's rear entrance open. Will hit the right control by accident. The team was boarding the ramp before it descended all the way to the deck.

"Warning! Depressurization in 30 seconds!" The computer announced as Will worked to close the shuttle. Once it was closed, the boarding party would have to rely on what oxygen there was in the still-pressurized small craft.

"There!" Will said as the door sealed. The only light coming into the shuttle was through the cockpit windows. There were two seats at the controls. T'Pol immediately sat in the one on the left and laid her weapons down, then whipped out her computer and began scanning. Archer came over to her.

"T'Pol, how much air do you think we have?" He said. She didn't answer. She seemed intent on her scanning device.

"'Earth to T'Pol'!" Tucker said.

"You are not on Earth." T'Pol said, never looking up from her device. "I heard the Captain and will answer him shortly, but the answer may be irrelevant if my theory is correct."

"That theory being?" Archer said.

"I am conducting an analytical scan of this shuttle, one detailed enough to allow me to intuit the functions of the controls. If I'm successful, I will be able to activate the craft's life support systems and possibly fly it out of the ship."

"Why couldn't you have done that with the ship itself?" Mercurio asked.

"It would have taken too long, several hours at least for the whole vessel."

"How long will it take to do the shuttle?" Will said.

"Approximately eighteen minutes."

"And the amount of air?" Archer said.

"If everyone would refrain from talking," T'Pol said, sounding more irritated than her upbringing would indicate, "and make no unnecessary movements, we would have...more than eighteen minutes."

Archer didn't like her bluntness, but everyone took the hint and found places to sit while T'Pol worked. Relaxation didn't come easy, however, as the ship trembled around them several times.

"Looks like wherever we're heading," Sato said, "there's some turbulence along our route."

* * *

1701 came to a stop over where the other attacking ship went down. That gave Reed the opening he needed. When Mayweather got Enterprise into position Reed strafed the big ship, raining phase blasts and torpedoes down on it. The target shook under the impacts, but NX-01's weapons still couldn't get through the mystery ship's shields. As Enterprise passed the other ship's stern, -1701 fired a volley of phase blasts, knocking out several thrusters and an impulse engine on the smaller ship.

Mayweather gritted his teeth and fought the lurching of the ship, trying to keep it from dipping into the atmosphere of the planet. He managed to stabilize the ship's orbit just as the other spacecraft started to pull away.

"They're breaking orbit!" Mayweather called out.

"Don't lose them!" Reed said, wondering how he'd stop the ship and get his people back.

Mayweather had to work hard to compensate for the lost impulse engine and thrusters. It was difficult to do. With the loss of half of its propulsion and maneuvering systems, Enterprise was off balance.

"I'm kicking in the Warp engines!" He said. They were both still working, and they idled at light-speed. Once he was moving, he could easily overtake the other ship, swing back and let Reed blast it. He set a course to leapfrog the bad guy, energized the warp engine, and the ship leaped forward...

...and then Mayweather cursed as -1701 kept pace and stayed ahead of them. Someone on the mystery ship had read his mind.

In a few minutes the two ships would be out of the system. With nothing but open space ahead of them, the Ensign had no illusions about their chances.

"If that thing goes into full warp before we get them off..."

He didn't have to finish. Reed knew all to well what the consequences would be. "Beat them to it!" He commanded.

* * *

T'Pol had only been working on the shuttle for a few minutes when Sato noticed something amiss. "Did anybody feel that?" She said. "It felt like we went to warp."

A second later, a low hum rumbled through the ship and the shuttle, rising in pitch until it became a shrill whine. The sound disappeared as quickly as it had become noticeable, but everyone was sure it meant that they were running out of time.

"With those big engines," Tucker said, "there's no way Enterprise will be able to keep up for very long."

"T'Pol," Archer said, "faster would be better."

"But not necessarily more efficient." T'Pol said, in an even tone. She didn't look up from her computer to answer. She stared at the screen, working the controls as fast as she could manage, trying to puzzle out the controls. She then paused for a moment, as if a sudden realization had come to her. She worked some more controls, saw what she wanted, then dropped her computer and started hitting switches on the shuttles control panel. The lights came on in the interior, and several sounds vibrated the shuttle as several power systems came on.

"What did you do?" Mercurio said.

"I activated the emergency start and autopilot controls." T'Pol said. "Finding the controls for those two systems was much easier than trying to discern all the controls at once."

"And that just occurred to you?" Tucker teased as he took the other seat at the controls.

"Actually, it was one of several options I considered but rejected, because it would not guarantee us the ability to control the shuttle, but the current circumstances forced me to reconsider. We have life support now, so everyone may breathe normally."

"Can we fly out of here now?" Will said.

"I do not know how to do that yet." T'Pol said, reaching for her computer.

"May I make a suggestion?" Tucker said. Before anyone could answer, he started hitting switches on the control panel in front of him. All of them. Strange noises sounded in the craft, and suddenly the shuttle lurched, making scraping sounds as it tilted and jerked in the shuttle bay. Warning sounds blared through space as Tucker tried to control the craft by God and guess. T'Pol, at a loss to figure out how to deal with her human crewmate's actions, started hitting controls on her side, trying to balance Tucker's childlike approach with more educated guesses. The rest of the team was astounded, but after a few minutes of this the pair managed to swing and jerk the shuttle forward. Another minute and the jerking stopped, and the shuttle was actually moving forward. Tucker moved his hands, leaving the craft under the control of T'Pol's surer touch.

"I knew I could inspire you." Tucker drawled at her with a smile. T'Pol just watched the controls and let out a very un-Vulcan-like grumble.

"I think you forgot something!" Will said, pointing at the forward window. The shuttle was rapidly approaching the still-closed Shuttle Bay door.

"I don't think we have to worry!" Archer said. "Keep going, T'Pol!"

It was close, but suddenly the doors started to part, opening to space. Stars were streaking behind the spaceship as the shuttle pulled out. The shuttle scraped one of the doors as it exited, but got out otherwise unscathed.

The mystery ship tried to change that as the shuttle started to pull away. Packets of energy were launched at the shuttle and detonated around it, throwing it off course and causing it to spin and pitch out of control. T'Pol fought the unfamiliar flight controls, trying to right the shuttle. Finally she picked a direction and hit the warp controls, hoping the warp field would provide balance.

* * *

"They're getting away!" Mayweather said unnecessarily as the mystery ship started to recede in the distance. He'd leaped to High Warp as soon as they cleared the star system, but the other ship accelerated faster, and Enterprise had only been able to keep pace for a few seconds. Ultimately, the Starfleet ship reached its limit, while the alien ship kept accelerating.

Reed pounded his fist on his control panel, enraged at the loss of his people. He was contemplating what he'd say to Starfleet Command when warning alarms sounded on his and Mayweather's controls.

"Uh, Travis..." He said, a note of panic in his voice.

* * *

Going to warp had been a bad idea. The shuttle's warp field had interfered with the ship's and vice versa, but the ship's was more powerful, which meant that the shuttle was thrown around even more as it pulled away.

It took all her Vulcan skill and reflexes, but T'Pol finally got the ship traveling in some semblance of a normal attitude. She was tempted to relax and try to find her way back to Coogan's World, but she didn't have time.

"Uh, T'Pol..." Mercurio said, her voice taut with fear.

T'Pol looked out of the forward screen and saw a blue blur headed right for the shuttle.

"T'Pol..." Tucker said as she worked the controls and the blue blur got bigger...and bigger...and bigger...

"Brace for collision!" Archer yelled as the shuttle lurched to the side when the screen filled with blue.

* * *

"What the hell was that?!!" Mayweather said as he completed his turn. He'd barely had enough time to bank the ship when he spotted the smallish white blur hurling at them from the mystery ship. He'd assumed it was some sort of weapon at first, but he didn't know of any weapon that could travel at warp.

"Intercept it." Reed said. He wanted to know what it was as well.

* * *

Once she saw that they were clear, T'Pol slowed the shuttle down, coming out of warp, then turning off the impulse engines. As they drifted, Archer checked on his people. "Did everybody survive?"

"I did." Will said.

"I think I did." Sato said.

"I don't think my uniform did." Mercurio said.

"I know the feeling." Tucker said.

"I will not pilot this vessel any longer." T'Pol said. "We must make no attempt to move it until we have a better understanding of the controls." She looked pointedly at Tucker with that. Controlled emotions notwithstanding, Vulcans had as much of a survival instinct as any species, and she'd reached her limit of tolerance.

"No argument." Tucker said, earnestly.

"What almost hit us?" Will said.

"I think I know," Sato said. A smile had crossed her face. She was looking at one of the three screens above the forward glass. Everyone followed her gaze, and all the other humans smiled as well.

"Now that is a sight for sore eyes." Archer said as he whipped out his communicator. "Archer to Enterprise."

* * *

On the bridge of 1701, the gunman sitting in the Captain's Chair contemplated the report he'd just received from the man at the helm. "Damn." He said. "Prepare to send the destruct signal on my mark."

* * *

The shuttle was too big to be pulled into the Shuttlepod Bay, but this time no one complained about having their molecules scrambled. When they resolidified in the transporter room, Tucker made a big show of kissing the bulkhead. "Good to be home!" He said.

"Glad to have you back, Commander." Reed said. "I'm afraid the ship took a few hard knocks while your were gone."

"I'm on it!" He said. "Ensign, I could use your help."

"Aye, Sir." Mercurio said. She smiled as she trotted out of the room. She hadn't seen a Warp Five engine before.

"What about Ulysses?" Will asked.

"I'm afraid she caught the worst of it, Sir." Reed said. "Most of her crew are all right, but Bridling had to jettison the warp engine. You'll need a tow back to the Fleet Yards."

"Speaking of towing," Archer said to T'Pol, "let's get to the bridge and get the grapplers ready. We're taking that shuttle back as well. I want the Corps of Engineers to tear it apart piece by piece till I get the answers I want."

Just then a massive shock rattled Enterprise. When it was over, Archer frowned.

"Somebody tell me that wasn't what I think it was." He said.

"Bridge to Archer." Mayweather's voice called over the intercom.

Archer found a comm panel and pressed the button. "Archer here."

"Sir, that shuttlecraft just exploded!" The helmsman said. "I couldn't tell you why..."

"That's all right, Travis. Carry on." Archer closed contact then. Of course, as soon as he said "We're taking it back" it went bye-bye. He hated Murphy's Law.

* * *

It was the second time Enterprise had been headed back to Earth since her voyage began. This time she was bringing back Ulysses for repair and refit. Archer had contemplated contacting another ship, but wasn't quite sure how he'd explain why the Starfleet ship had been blown apart in the first place. Ultimately, he and Will decided they'd deliver their after-action reports to Starfleet Command in person. What they'd say in those reports was a matter for discussion. That discussion was taking place at the Captain's Table. Archer was dining with his Chief Engineer, Science Officer and Communications Officer, along with the Captain and Chief Engineer of Ulysses.

"Here's what I don't get." Will said as he contemplated his steak. "How did you know they'd open the Shuttle Bay doors for us?"

"They'd been going out of their way not to kill us while we were there." Archer said after he swallowed a tasty bite of home fry. "Weapons on stun, giving us enough time to get into the shuttle when they depressurized the bay...I figured they had to make a choice between letting us go 'splat' or letting us go, period. And you'll note they only tried to knock the shuttle off course with those energy packet weapons of theirs, and they didn't detonate it until after we were safely aboard this ship."

"Still, that was not a great deal of data to go on," T'Pol said, as she carefully sawed through a steamed Broccoli stalk. "It was a risk."

"But it was a calculated one," Tucker said, "and it paid off. You should never complain when you manage to beat the house." With that bit of wisdom he forked some potatoes into his mouth.

"I just can't wait to see the looks on the Admirals' faces back at Command when we lay out this story." Mercurio said over her greens.

"What exactly are we going to lay out?" Sato said as she dug into some rice. "I'm not sure myself what happened on that ship."

"That's what we're here to discuss." Archer said, getting the conversation on track.

* * *

Meanwhile, two hundred light-years away, the other Enterprise was still traveling at high Warp through uncharted space. Its skeleton crew was gathered on the Bridge, pondering the same question. The Commander of the mission sat in the center chair, contemplating the forward screen. He let himself be lulled for a moment by the amber lights going across the indicator under it, in time with a soft, echoed beeping.

There were twelve people in the crew, eight who'd stormed the ship when Archer was aboard and four from the craft that had attacked his ship. They were unmasked. Six were Human, including the one killed when a team tried to take the Armory. The rest were various races. One of them, an Andorian, came over to the Commander's side.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" The Andorian said, looking around the Bridge.

"It's almost a perfect replica." The Commander said. "It must have taken months to build."

The Andorian nodded. "I seem to recall that Humans take great pride in creating replicas as a hobby. The engineer certainly must have loved his work."

"I never built anything like this when I was a kid." The Commander said. "And this...this is no child's plaything." He grimaced as he spoke. The conversation reminded him of the mission. "We screwed up big time."

"Not completely." The Human at the Science Station said. "We got the ship out of the contested zone."

The Commander shook a finger at the man. "I don't want to hear it from you, Finn! I still can't believe you let them out of the Shuttle Bay! You were supposed to trap them and hold them."

"That's what I was trying to do!" Finn said. "I depressurized the bay to force them into the shuttle. I thought I'd wait till the lack of air knocked them out, and then we could round them up and put them in a holding cell. How was I to know they'd try to fly it?"

"You still should have left the doors closed."

"Finn knew the limitations as well as anyone here, Commander." The man standing next to Finn said. Earth wouldn't encounter his race for decades yet, but he was a valuable member of this Commander's team. The Human regarded his pointy ears and stormy brow as he spoke. "Captain Archer and his people can't be permanently damaged in any way, no killing, no mindwipes. They're too important to the timeline. I would consider 'being smashed against a shuttle bay door' permanent damage, wouldn't you?"

"Finn could have prevented that." Another Human said. "The bay has tractor beams to land damaged shuttles. He could have used them to keep the shuttle on the deck."

"I didn't know that much about the controls." Finn said. "Running the control room was supposed to be Danko's job, but he got stunned."

"Sure...point fingers." Danko said from across the room. "By the way, thanks for letting the air out of the bay while I was laying there stunned." He added as he scratched the scales on his neck ridges.

"I knew your implants would protect you." Finn said, flippantly. Danko just snorted.

"Of course." He said. "In our defense, Commander, the way they blew in the door threw us off guard. We didn't have much time to think."

"It's not really about that." The Commander said. "We had to keep them immobilized long enough to make sure they didn't take anything off the ship that might lend evidence to its ever having existed. I didn't expect them to stand there and let us do it, but we should have done a better job forcing the issue."

"We did manage to destroy the shuttlecraft." The Human at the helm said.

"But those phasers are still missing, and we don't know if they were in the shuttle or if the Enterprise crew still has them. If they take those things back to Starfleet Command...in this era..." His voice trailed off. He let his gaze drift back to the forward screen. "We screwed up big time. That's all. That one little technical delay we suffered was all they needed. This is a total victory for them."

"We don't know that yet." Finn said.

"Oh no? I thought the faction running the Suliban was crazy, but the people who commissioned this replica, who planted it in the rock on Coogan's World...they just fired a huge shot in the Cold War, and the entire galaxy is going to take the hit.

"Archer and the others have seen this ship and its technology, have it planted in their minds, and because of what they'll do in the future there's no way we can remove it from those minds without running an even greater risk. That's bad enough. If they still have the phasers, that clinches the deal. They'll eventually tell their story to someone, and show someone the scans the Vulcan took, and show someone those guns. The seeds have been planted, Finn. All they need now is tending, which the Neutral Faction can now take care of at it's leisure. Those little seeds will grow and spread and effect this entire quadrant in ways we've worked so hard to avoid!"

The hum of the warp engines sounded on the Bridge as the Helmsman slowed the ship down. "Coming up on rendezvous." He said. When the ship was at sub-light, everyone looked at the screen. The extraction ship was waiting for them just a few hundred kilometers off the bow.

The Commander sighed. "I want you all to remember what we lost today, Gentleman." He said, then indicated the dead Human wrapped up on the deck nearby. "I want you to remember why Riley's death was in vain. Because of a stupid glitch in our trip back in time, the efforts of our faction have been unraveled. Everything we did to make sure Jonathan Archer would usher in a new golden age for the Pre-Alliance Quadrant has been turned to dust.

"The Kirk Era has been reintroduced with a vengeance, and it will herald a Galactic Dark Age that it will take over a century for our various peoples to emerge from."

With that, the Commander stood. "Set the automatic helm controls." He said to the Helmsman. "Signal the ship that we'll be coming shortly. The rest of you, let's get to the transporter room."

Two of the men picked up Riley, and the crew began to file into the turbolift.

* * *

Minutes later, the extraction ship had completed recovery of the team. Once it had its charges it slipped away, flashing to Warp using technology that wouldn't exist for nine hundred years.

After it was gone, the computers aboard the replica brought the ship into warp, speeding it into a nearby system, on a collision course with the sun. When its journey was finished, the duplicate United Starship Enterprise, NCC-1701, would leave no further trace of its existence.

Its namesake, when it passed through the system a hundred years hence, would be none the wiser.


End file.
